My family’s history and story is of great concern to, so much so that I intend to reconstruct the family tree as far as I can get in order to know who came before me.
In this same sense, I put a lot a value into objects that have reached through the generations. I have china, some furniture, personal items, photos and photo albums, etc.
Everything tells a piece of a story I wasn’t able to fully live through and instead just brushed me growing up.
It gives me a sense of belonging.
I don’t like things much, it feels oppressive to try to hang on to them. I have a very few that I value. A gun cabinet my dad converted to a shelved cabinet. The harmonica my grandpa played. That may be it, actually. My mom gave me many photographs, I suck at organizing and preserving them, not sure why she gave them to me. I have also 2 other furniture pieces from my grandma’s house but it’s the gun cabinet I won’t part with.
I have lived in the same place a long time and not a big believer in heritage - go 10 generations back and you have 1,024 people who are your great-to the power of 10-parents. Anyone who says they are descended from someone is picking and choosing to create a story. So I feel as belonged as I care to, by belonging to the place I live I guess.
No I don’t.
I kept a lot of stuff from my parents house after they passed. Most of it is still in boxes and I have yet to find the time to really go through it and take inventory.
Among those items there looks to be a lot of things that were kept in their own parents’ homes. China pieces, old collectibles…there is what looks to be a certified Catholic holy relic, which I haven’t the faintest idea what to do with. There is a pretty sizable collection of steins that I’ve kept out of pure sentiment, though I haven’t gone out of my way to set up a place to display them.
Thing is, most of this stuff I took from an outdoor storage shed where they just stuffed anything they didn’t have room for in the house. Had been sitting untouched for decades and was covered in dirt and mouse shit when I finally got to it. Spent a lot of time cleaning and trying to salvage what I could. So to that end I hesitate to call any of this stuff “heirlooms” when it seems to mostly be things they didn’t really value but couldn’t bring themselves to throw or give away.
I understand.
We have an accordion played by my great grandfather.
Does anyone still knows how to play it?
Unfortunately no! I will learn if it passes into my hands - I already play other instruments.
Only things I’ve had passed down to me like that have been guns.
Been archiving my dead parents’ documents over the past year cause I’ve been unemployed. Letters, tax returns, celebratory cards, bills, etc. I think they’ll come in handy in case some fascist fuckwit tries to decide I’m not a citizen or wasn’t born in this country.
Once I’m done with the documents, I’m moving onto archiving VHS tapes, then photos.
Yes, just a few things:
My great-great-grandfather’s portrait, bayonet and a copy of his discharge papers from his Civil War service.
The flag from my grandfather’s coffin.
There are things I’d like to have/keep in the family when my parents pass.
I don’t have the room for half of the furniture my mother tried to give me. She wanted me to take an old dining table that’s the size of my current living room.
One of those old fashioned solid wood dining table for twelve?
It’s a shame. I wanted to make a solid wood table at some point in my life but four to six seatings will be more than enough.
Happy Cakeday.
It seated 8 comfortably, maybe up to 12 if you crowded a bit. It was SOLID and I regret that it probably ended up in a landfill.
So that is what that little icon means. Thanks.
I’ve seen tables like that very carefully split in two smaller ones. It took serious crafmanship but the end result retained the same “soul”, pardon the expression.
I would have loved to do that but we were so poor food was a problem to manage. Some strong, sturdy furniture made out of solid wood, not particle board wrapped in plastic.
Even synthetic wood can make good furniture nowadays, if one is willing to put in some work.
I’m in the process of building a few bookshelves and we opted for OSB. Well sanded and varnished, it turns into an unusually solid material. And it takes a beating. I involved my kids in process and it has been a near little project.
I just make the calculations for the parts I need and have them cut at a carpenter, that also sells me board. I bring everything home and do the finishing, which is the most expensive part.
Next, I will go into solid wood. And into a more daunting project.
When I talk about particle board it’s much more of the sawdust glued together stuff that’s super cheap but doesn’t last too long.
I wish you great luck in your endeavors with wood working. It sounds like a lot of learning but is a very functional skill to have.
I understood it has such. That is the kind of crap furniture that keeps people hostage and degrades their quality of life.
Thank you for your kind words and I wish you the best as well.
My grandparents were not wealthy people. They were products of the Great Depression. They kept nearly everything they ever and bought and every major purchase was carefully calculated.
I only ever saw my grandad wear one watch. A Timex from probably the late 1980’s. I would guess it cost < $20 new at Walmart back then.
It still works. I usually only wear it for special occasions. I’ve spent way more than it’s value having jewelers maintain it over the last 25 years.
I still miss the old man. You can’t put a price tag on those memories.
Yes. The thing is, I is po’. My grandma was rich. I have been saddled with “the Narnia cupboard” which only fits when you have high ceilings (one of those with vases), and a matching desk. So whenever I move, I have to figure out if they fit and also hope the removals guys know how to put Narnia together without dropping the damn doors (again).
I’m getting shot of them as soon as my mother passes away. I have some lovely paintings my grandma did and that’s enough where heirlooms are concerned.
You mean like, from my victims?
Those, I think, are called mementos.
I have a brosh and my cousin has the earrings my great great great whatever wore when she was painted by Monet. Whenever he went to the Netherlands he always stayed at my family. She wears mourning clothes and jewelry.
Here’s the painting, which hangs at the Kruller Muller museum in Apeldoorn The Netherlands.
Now that is a story!
I have an even better story. The biggest Dutch sea pirate was an ancestor of me. Back then it was an honorable profession. The entire area of the Zaanstreek was his. Whenever you go to the open air museum Zaanse Schans, all the windmills and store fronts were owned by him. When Willem van Orange (William of Orange) wanted to unite the 7 provinces, creating the first nation of The Netherlands, my ancestor was the main funder of the project, his signature is on the decleration of the seven provinces.
Monet stayed at that family. Nothing of their wealth has reached me sadly, only the story and the brosh. Even the painting was illegally donated by someone’s partner to the museum due to the high insurance costs. But at least everyone can see it now and it is well maintained. And I have a good story to tell. I wouldn’t have minded it if I had inherited a house or something though.
The sea pirate was Engel van de Stad by the way. Not much is known about him online, as he never worked for the state so he never was named a naval hero or something like Michiel de Ruyter for example. Yet the fortune he gained by raiding British, French and Spanish fleets helped create the country I call home. We have only found documentation in a museum and in archives. I bet it would make amazing YouTube videos as soon as his story comes out.
I have a painting of the Australian desert that belonged to my mother. It’s banished to the second bedroom because it’s got a thick coating of nicotine, but I plan to have it cleaned some day.
check out Baumgartner Restoration on YouTube. you might learn how to do it, or even better, understand you’re woefully out of your depth on a full restoration.
reach out and see if he’s got any contacts that he trusts in your area. presumably you live in Australia.
the fine art world is small, and the fine art restoration community is even smaller. he’s bound to know someone or even could even restore it himself.
Nicotine can be hard to clean. I wish you all the luck with that.
Yup, I’ve got quite a few things by now, and I’m in line for some more.
I don’t know about a sense of belonging, but a historical thing you’re tangentially connected to is cooler than just a random historical thing.
we have a box filled with baby teeth going back about 8 generations.
we have another box filled with locks of baby hair.
and I haven’t even mentioned the box of babies yet.
That was going really well unril it wasn’t.
